Good Witch Turns Bad
by Fellwalker95
Summary: The Wardstone Chronicles      Tom and Alice are married and have a child and John Gregory is nowhere to be seen. But is Alice really as good as Tom thinks she is or has she joined her father in the devil's race to kill Tom
1. Chapter 1

Alice's fingernails bit deep into the skin on my left arm. I saw her lips curving into a seductive smile, I remembered her words "you're mine now Tom" I awoke suddenly like had from the same dream the previous 7 nights. I turned over in my bed not to find a carefree girl of 14 with shocking black hair and pointy shoes like the girl smiling at me in my dreams but a careworn woman with weathered skin and thinning hair asleep next to me but there was no mistake. It was Alice. She looked like any other woman aged 34 except for a line of green scales running the length of her spine. My fingertips reached out to touch the iridescent scales lightly. My finger tracing the contours of her back to the base of her spine. The truth is that Alice is and always was a domestic lamia witch, capable of killing a man and draining his blood in less than a minute but she was my wife and I loved her didn't I

Why would I, a spook, marry a lamia witch when they were my enemy and especially as I had seen my master's heart broken and his life nearly taken by a malevolent witch named Meg Skelton.

I rolled up my sleeve and in the dusty moonlight I could see mine the scars that Alice left on me that summer's day on the mountains above my masters house. What had Alice meant by "you're mine", did I really belong to Alice. Her smile that day had always bothered me and it was bothering me more now I had dreamt about it seven times in a row. Seven is a special number for me. I am a seventh son of seventh son which means I am particularly susceptible to creatures of the dark. This is why my Mam sent me away to apprentice for a spook named John Gregory. That was how I met Alice. She deceived me then what if she was doing it again? l can sense when something from the dark is near, a chill wind rushes over my body as a warning. I was getting these warnings every time I dreamed about her smile that day and something wasn't right.

Disturbed by my thoughts I crept downstairs careful not to wake our daughter Lizzie, named after Alice's mother. As I thought longer I wondered why I ever agreed for her to be called Lizzie after all I was a spook, I was meant to hunt and catch witches. Alice's mother was a notorious witch who killed many children for their blood and bones yet I named my daughter after her. In fact I can't even remember agreeing to calling her that, yet more things were not adding up. My life was falling apart; suddenly I couldn't feel anything attaching me to this house.

Downstairs on the small and cramped kitchen table a snake was curled around a brass candlestick. The snake would follow Alice everywhere curl around her wrist and hissing her ear. I recalled from my spooks training that many witches kept familiars. Why hadn't I remembered this before, it was basic spooks training yet my head was fuzzy and could barely remember the days when I was apprenticed to the spook. The more I stared at the emerald ribbon snake with its glaring red eyes the more certain I became that this snake was Alice's familiar and that she had turned to the dark. There is only one sure way of telling whether a creature is a witches familiar, threaten to kill it and the witch should come to its aid. I picked up a large knife from the counter and advanced towards the snake its eyes boring into mine. Alice rushed down the stairs in a flurry. We stood their staring at each other. I was fixed in her gaze. She seemed more beautiful than she had when she was asleep her hair seemed thicker and her skin smoother and rosier. There was a memory of something my master had warned me about woman who become more beautiful with eye contact but I couldn't quite remember what it was. I looked at Alice's pointy shoes crammed onto her dainty feet. I knew what she was now. She was a malevolent lamia witch and my life was in danger if I disobeyed her.


	2. Chapter 2

"I've forgotten to make you're morning tea. Would you like it now?" Alice said breathlessly her eyes still fixed on the knife hovering over the small snake. I nodded not wanting to make her angry. I dropped the knife onto the counter and nodded. Alice uttered a barely audible sigh of relief Alice started brewing the tea, and a familiar yet strange smell filled the air. I could not quite place the aroma but there was something foreboding about it.

Alice had always been good with herbs. For healing and for hurting, which was she using now? Alice had tried to heal my eldest brother Jack after an evil witch named Wurmalde drove him crazy by entering a protected room meant only for me. For this I felt eternally guilty. Jack had died last year leaving is sick widow and child to fend for themselves. Ellie, his wife had always been good to me. So why wasn't I looking after her now she needed me most.

Alice set a large mug down in front of me. I put the liquid to my lips and inhaled the steam.

Suddenly the memories came back to me. There was a house cramped between a dark cliff and a wide winding stream.

I remembered the upstairs window facing the cliff the window sill touching the rock face. Emerald moss grew on the cliff and freezing water streamed constantly down the cliff.

I remember a blazing fire in the kitchen grate. A thin woman in a black dress. I remember the dark cellar with the metal gate. The three cells and something large scuttling in the corner.

I recognised it as my master's winter home in Angelzarke moor. The cellar was where he kept a feral and a domestic lamia witch. The woman in the kitchen was the domestic lamia, Meg Skelton, having taken a human form and stealing my master's heart he was unable to bind her in a pit he kept her at his winter form and used a _special tea _to remove her memories of being a lamia witch.

I now realised this is what Alice had just given me. This was how she kept me in her power. What I now needed to know was why Alice wanted me to forget my previous life. I was more vulnerable to dark magic now. Was that what Alice wanted?


	3. Chapter 3

Suddenly I knocked the mug of tea off the table onto the cold flagstone floor where it smashed and left a hissing puddle of browny green liquid dotted with white chine shards. Alice whipped around with a shocked expression on her face then obviously believing it was an accident she gave me an exasperated smile. I gritted my teeth and forced myself to give an apologetic smile in response.

"Oh Tom" Alice exclaimed "Never mind I'll make you another one"

"No, no I just need some fresh air" I insisted as I subtly slipped a small steel knife into my belt. 'It might be useful later' I thought, for I had no idea where I was let alone who was benign or malevolent. I hastily slipped out of the backdoor before Alice could stop me. I was halfway across our overgrown and neglected garden before Alice started calling me back. Only then I noticed that the mossy green was speckled with large and small patches of white. I peered closer then regretted it for I saw human skulls and thumb bones. Babies Skulls. Children's thumbs. Alice was using Bone Magic and what was worse was that on patches of bare earth I saw the dirt was sticky and was mixed with what looked like blood. This meant Alice was the most malevolent type witch, a double threat using both Blood and Bone Magic!

As I emerged from the forest that surrounded our ramshackle house and the glare of sunlight had subsided, I saw an ominous purple hill rising up before me. It was Pendle Hill, every spooks nightmare. Pendle was the most feared witch stronghold in the country and it was not safe for any servant of the light.

Without warning a plan formed in my head this was my one chance of survival. I had to get to Malkin Tower, once the Malkin clans inner fortress it was now home to my two aunts. My aunts are feral Lamia witches and are although still denizens of the dark they are instructed to protect me. Perhaps from there I could work out what to do and find a way to find the Spook. If he was still alive. My only flaw in the plan was that Malkin tower was on the other side of Pendle Hill and I could choose either to climb it which would be much quicker but more dangerous or to walk around it which would take twice as long but was a little safer. I decided to walk around the hill as I did not fancy being cut off from safety.

As I walked along I had to try to keep my head down and not draw attention to myself as any publicity could jeopardise my chance of safety. I needed to get past the Witches Dell as fast as I could. Witches Dell was a small forested area which had engulfed an abandoned church. The three main witch clans, the Malkins, Deanes and the Mouldheels, used it to bury their deceased relatives. Some of the dead witches were still wick and are extremely strong some could travel miles to catch their desired prey. I did not need to meet them now especially not Grim Gertrude, Alice's favourite member of the Malkin clan. As I walked hastily past the densest part of the wood, I noticed a bare pair of female feet protruding from the undergrowth. I stood rooted to the spot. All my instincts were telling me to run but I couldn't. As the girl advanced from the shadows, I thought my first instincts had been wrong for as the girls face was showered with the rays from the sun I saw a familiar face. It was Mab Mouldheel. She posed no real threat to me, or she hadn't in the past. Very soon I found that my first instincts had been completely right.


	4. Chapter 4

"Mab" exclaimed in surprise

"Tom you ain't half a sight for sore eyes, y'know. I 've been waiting for months." Mab smiled with a glint in her eyes that intrigued me.

"What do you mean, you've been waiting for me" I asked warily.

"Tom you've been missing for three years but I'd seen what happened in my mirror." She said matter-of-factly "I just got my timings a little…off."

"Mab, tell me what you know about Alice and the Spook. What happened?"

"Not here" she whispered, she grabbed my hand and darted deeper into the wood.

It went against all my instincts. I did not want to be here but it was the only way to find out what was going on, anyway I could trust Mab, couldn't I.

As we ran I noticed how her raven black hair shimmered in the morning sunlight piercing the dense hazel trees. I noticed how her dress fitted perfectly accentuating her curvaceous body. Hoe her deep russet coloured eyes matched her emerald dress and glinted and sparkled as she smiled.

We reached a shallow but fast flowing river, it was only ankle deep but Mab stopped dead. I looked at her questionably.

"You're gonna have to carry me across, you didn't think I had betrayed my side did you" Mab asked incredulously "it's just I 've always had a soft spot for you, Tom Jen thinks I'm going soft but ah… well" her sentence trailed off into the alarmingly silent woods.

I didn't answer but I lifted her up into my arms and paddled across the river the current nearly knocking me over. We crossed in silence but Mab pressed her body very closely to mine then lithely sprang out of my arms at the other side and bounded on.

We stopped in a clearing the corners covered in shadows like a blanket of velvet. A chill wind raised the hairs on my neck, I knew I shouldn't be here but it was the only way.

"Tell me the truth, Mab what's going on" I demanded  
>"I will but there's a price" Mab said seductively<br>"What is it" I asked circumspectly

"You'll find out later!" she said knowingly

I did not like the idea but Mab was the only connection I had at the moment. I urged her to go on

"Alice is malicious; she's feeding you a herbal tea that makes you forget your previous life"

"I worked that out for myself thanks…"

"Do you want to hear the rest or not" Mab snapped

"Ok, ok" I replied

"She's got Old Gregory imprisoned somewhere in Roughlee and she's joined her father, the devil. She's been a naughty girl, Tom"

I stood and stared at her for a while, time seemed to stand still.

"I've got to get to Roughlee now" I started to leave the clearing when Mab's clear and domineering voice said

"What about my fee, Tom"

I turned around slowly. Her skin radiated beauty; it drew me closer to her. When I was in reaching distance, Mab grabbed the hem of my cloak and pressed her firm lips to mine, rolling her body against mine. Her lips ardently kissed my neck then whispered bewitchingly in my ear

"I've been a naughty girl too, Tom forgive me"

Too late I realised I was rooted to the spot. Too late I noticed Mab was using fascination and Glamour to seduce me. Too late I noticed cloven footprints burning into the mossy grass.


	5. Chapter 5

The fiend was coming and I was frozen to the spot, Mab had bound me with a fascination spell my only chance now was too break the spell with extreme concentration but my thoughts kept turning round in my head. Mab had tricked me and now my life was over. There was only one chance Grimalkin but she could be miles away and I had no way of contacting her. Then like a glimmer of hope the sun danced across a small glimmering puddle just to left of me. I realised then that, this was my only chance if I could concentrate hard enough on contacting it might break Mab's spell that rooted me to the spot and maybe just maybe Grimalkin had enough magic in her to travel through the temporary portal created in reflective surfaces. I found myself hoping that she had drunk the blood of a child recently, sickened by those thoughts my mind turned to my Master. John Gregory would have told me that I was travelling towards the dark just attempting to use the puddle to communicate but as my mam had always said 'sometimes you gotta fight dark with dark.' I stared longingly into the puddle ,the way Alice had taught me all those years ago in the back bedroom of the spooks summer house in Chipenden, since then mirrors had saved my life several times. I imagined Grimalkin standing in front of me, her deep purple lips and teeth filled into sharp points. Her leather straps crossing her heavily tattooed body, her scissors and knives slipped into their sheaths, threatening. Yet the thought of her bought back good memories fighting side by side. She protected me from the evils in this world that wanted to harm me just like my mother had before she sacrificed herself destroying the Ordeen. Now she was my only hope, she had a baby with the Fiend but it had been a beautiful pure human boy so the fiend had destroyed him so she wanted the Fiend destroyed as much as I did. Also any witch that bears the Fiend's child has the power of wishing him away from her or bringing him close to her. If I could summon Grimalkin she could wish him away and it would buy us some time while I worked out what was going on. The cloven hoof prints were drawing closer and a shadow of the Fiend's true form was materialising in a few seconds he would fully form and then my life truly was over, I would not be able to think about anything else except his hideous face and putrid breath. I could buy myself some time though… I had a power paced on from my Mam the Mother of the Lamia witches; I could slow down and even stop time. I saw Grimalkins flash for a second, her face lingering in the puddle she mouthed just two words; 'I'm coming.' A burden lifted from by shoulders but I was still bound which was strange the Fiend must of given her extra powers, Mab stood cowering on the edge of the clearing I knew now the only way to break the spell was to kill her. But I couldn't think of that now I had to slow down the Fiend's progress which was difficult as he could control time too. It was a battle between whose powers were stronger those of Good or Evil. I concentrated on all my power, I was the son of a powerful Goddess and I was the seventh son of a seventh son, the perfect balance of power and perception. I saw the Fiends progress slow and finally he stopped mid-materialisation. Grimalkin appeared after a period of time, but I had no inkling of the actual time it felt like hours but in reality was probably only a few seconds but already my strength was waning. Grimalkin looked the same as ever as she gave me a motherly smile and concentrated on forcing the Fiend as far away as possible, I felt the weight lift from my mind but I was still frozen to the spot. Mab was already streaking away through the trees but no one could out run Grimalkin. Grimalkin unsheathed a large pair of scissors from the sheath at the nape of her neck. Finally I heard a bloodcurdling scream and I felt a pang of regret… Mab had been a friend even if she had betrayed me. Grimalkin returned to the clearing with Mab's heart held up in the air, her blood running down Grimalkin's muscly arms. I turned away as Grimalkin ate her heart raw it was the only way to prevent a witch coming back to this life and possessing another body.

"Take this" Grimalkin handed me a small jar filled with sand and a few drops of her blood. I unscrewed the lid and Grimalkin unsheathed a long sharp needle from a strap running the length of her thigh. I felt a burning sensation as I few drops of my blood fell into the jar and mingled with hers.

"This will keep you safe as long as we are both in Pendle" Grimalkin said "There has been rumours that John is held at Malkin Tower , I will go on ahead, clear the path around the mountain and take the back entrance up through the Tower and release him from below the Deane's and Mouldheel's noses. I assure you the Malkins had nothing to do with this, I will protect you. Meet us at John's Brother's house in Roughlee"

Before I had chance to respond she was running through the wood and had disappeared from sight. There was now hope at least and I was protected the blood jar would keep me safe as long as I kept it safe.

I walked along the winding wooded path my mind turned to my life now what could have happened to make Alice turn, betray me when I was her first friend. I rescued her when she had rescued me from Bony Lizzie's pit on my first year as an apprentice. I had saved her from a life of evil and dark magic, yet it hadn't helped in the long run she was evil and at some point I would either have to kill her or bind her in a pit but for now I had to find my master.

As my mind relaxed in the knowledge that Grimalkin had cleared this path of danger, I saw a young girl of around eight running towards me, at first I saw no danger, after all it was probably a girl from one of the villages playing on the hill. I kept running but had the sense that I was being followed and the hair rose on the back of my neck, a warning from the dark. The girl was running directly towards me and was calling to me.

"Daddy, Daddy!" as she drew closer I saw she had Alice's mesmerizing eyes and my thick brown hair, it was Lizzie.

"I wanted to come and meet you " she explained in an innocent voice her eyes dropped to my hands were I held the blood jar. "What's that… can I hold it" she asked with her mother inquisitiveness.

"No, it's nothing" I replied I did not want her exposed to any more dark magic. Her bottom lip began to tremble and her eyes sparkled with tears. I passed the jar gently to her and said. "Be careful" after all what harm could it do she was only a child.

"oh.. I almost forgot to ask...are you thirsty Daddy she passed me a flask of liquid and realising how sore my throat had become I took a long swig before smelling the liquid. My heart sank as I looked at my daughter, her lips pulled up into a malevolent smile and the blood jar slipped purposefully from her hands and smashed on the floor, but it was too late I had forgotten why I needed it , I had forgotten any sense of danger. I needed to me with my daughter and wife.

"Let's go home, Daddy" Lizzie said slipping her miniscule hand into mine and gently pulling me up the slope of Pendle hill towards our cottage where Alice waited for us. As she did so the flask slipped from my hands and smashed and left a hissing puddle of browny green liquid, the herbal tea which mingled with the blood and sand from the jar.

I wasn't safe anymore but I had no way of knowing.


End file.
